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How to Avoid Discrimination When Hiring Workers Granted Asylum or Refugee Status
Employer Fact Sheet
How to Avoid Discrimination When Hiring
Workers Granted Asylum or Refugee Status
This fact sheet provides information on employment rights that
someone granted asylum or refugee status has and how employers
can avoid unlawfully discriminating against these workers.
An employer that discriminates based on someone’s citizenship, immigration status,
or national origin might violate the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-
discrimination provision. This law is found at 8 U.S.C. § 1324b.
Immigrant and Employee Rights Section
justice.gov/ier
What’s in this Document
1. Background on workers granted
asylum or refugee status
2. Protections against citizenship status
discrimination
3. Completing the Form I-9 for workers
granted asylum or refugee status
• Form I-9 Section 1
• Form I-9 Section 2
• Information on documentation
workers granted asylum or
refugee status might have
• Reverification information
4. Workers granted asylum or refugee
status can work while they wait for a
Social Security number
Contact
For questions about this fact
sheet, call the Civil Rights
Division’s Immigrant and
Employee Rights Section at
1-800-255-8155
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How to Avoid Discrimination When Hiring Workers Granted Asylum or Refugee Status
Background on asylum and refugee status
The federal government grants asylum and refugee status to people who have been
persecuted or fear persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion.
Someone granted asylum or refugee status has permission to live and work in the United
States that doesn’t expire.
Protections against citizenship status discrimination
An employer can’t fire or refuse to hire someone granted
asylum or refugee status based on citizenship or
immigration status, unless a law, regulation, government
contract, or executive order requires the employer to do
so. This exception is rare and does not apply to the vast
majority of jobs.
An employer that believes a certain position requires it to
hire someone with a specific citizenship or immigration
status should carefully review the legal support for the
requirement to ensure it falls within the exception.
Completing the Form I-9 for workers granted asylum or refugee status
Form I-9 Section 1
Worker completes Section 1
Someone granted asylum or refugee status should select “A Noncitizen Authorized to
Work” in Section 1. Because their permission to work does not expire, these workers write
“N/A” in the expiration date field in Section 1.
Form I-9 Section 2
Worker chooses documentation
Like all workers, someone granted asylum or refugee status doesn’t need to prove their
particular citizenship or immigration status when they complete the Form I-9. The purpose
of the Form I-9 is to document a worker’s identity and their permission to work.
Under the Form I-9 instructions, someone granted asylum or refugee status, like all
workers, can choose to present acceptable documentation from List A, or a combination of
documentation from List B and List C.
Denying someone
granted asylum or
refugee status the
opportunity to work
based on their citizenship
or immigration status
could violate the law.
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How to Avoid Discrimination When Hiring Workers Granted Asylum or Refugee Status
The Form I-9 instructions explain that if any worker,
including someone granted asylum or refugee status,
decides to show a List B and a List C document,
employers are not allowed to ask or require the worker
to present a List A document, such as a Department of
Homeland Security document.
Call the Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee
Rights Section (IER) for more information on workers’
right to choose which documents to show you for the
Form I-9.
Information on Form I-9 documentation workers granted asylum or refugee
status might have
Someone granted asylum or refugee status may choose to show an Employment
Authorization Document (EAD), but they don’t have to.
These workers may have EADs that appear expired but
qualify for an automatic extension and are still valid. If
someone granted asylum or refugee status has applied to
renew their EAD by the expiration date listed on the EAD, the
worker may be able to keep working with the existing EAD.
For a period of time after the EAD expiration date, the worker
can continue working by showing you their EAD with the I-
797C receipt notice (showing that the government received
their EAD renewal application).
You can get more information on EAD automatic extensions and completing the Form I-9
in the Handbook for Employers M-274. You can also call IER for more information.
Someone granted asylum or refugee status can show other documentation. For example,
they can show state identification (List B document) together with a Social Security card
without employment restrictions (List C document). These workers are eligible to receive
Social Security cards with no employment restrictions because of their immigration status.
Someone granted refugee status may also have a Form I-94 with a refugee admission
stamp or a computer-generated Form I-94 printout with an admission class of “RE.” Both
versions of the I-94 are a type of Form I-9 document known as a receipt and are valid List
A documents for 90 days from the first day of work, after which the worker must show either
Requesting a specific
document based on a
worker’s citizenship,
immigration status, or
national origin might violate
the Immigration and
Nationality Act’s anti-
discrimination provision.
Someone granted
asylum or refugee
status may have a
variety of documents
that show their identity
and their permission to
work.
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How to Avoid Discrimination When Hiring Workers Granted Asylum or Refugee Status
an EAD or a combination of a List B document and an unrestricted Social Security card.
Call IER for more information on refugee Forms I-94.
Someone granted refugee status can also use their unexpired Department of State-issued
Transportation Boarding Letter as an acceptable List B document.
Someone granted asylum may have a Form I-94 with an asylum approval stamp. This Form
I-94 is a permanent List C document that does not expire. The Form I-9 instructions don’t
require employers to reverify this document, and an employer that reverifies a worker when
not required to, based on the worker’s citizenship, immigration status, or national origin
might violate the law.
You can get more information by contacting IER and in the Handbook for Employers M-
274.
Reverification information
If the Form I-9 instructions require you to reverify the Form I-9 documentation that someone
granted asylum or refugee status presented, you must treat that worker as you would any other
worker during the reverification process.
If someone granted asylum or refugee status presents an
EAD for initial verification, you will reverify the worker’s
permission to work when the EAD expires.
These are just some examples. The rules for when an
employer must ask for documents again are discussed in
the Handbook for Employers M-274. Workers do not have
to show a List B document for reverification.
Follow all Form I-9 rules consistently, regardless of an
employee’s citizenship, immigration status, or national
origin to avoid violating the law that IER enforces.
Workers granted asylum or refugee status can work while they wait
for a Social Security number
Although the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service require you
to record a Social Security number for wage reporting purposes, a worker may start work
and get paid for that work once the worker has completed the Form I-9, even if the worker
is still waiting for a Social Security number.
Upon reverification,
workers can present any
valid List A document or
List C document, such as
an unrestricted Social
Security card or an
unexpired (including
automatically extended)
EAD. Workers can also
show a valid receipt.
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How to Avoid Discrimination When Hiring Workers Granted Asylum or Refugee Status
According to Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration guidance, you
can use “000-00-0000” or “applied for” in your payroll system until the employee provides
you with the Social Security number.
If you use E-Verify, E-Verify instructs you to delay creating the E-Verify case until the worker
has received a Social Security number. The worker may work during this time if the worker
has completed the Form I-9. E-Verify rules specifically allow for this exception and provide
instructions for creating the case. More information is available at e-verify.gov.
Updated March 2024
Contact
• For people with hearing disabilities 1-800-237-2515
• Calls can be anonymous.
• Free language services are available.
• To learn more, visit
1-800-255-8155
justice.gov/ier
Civil Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER)